360 S O O L O O. 



Troops, and stores of all kinds, were sent from India ; numbers of 

 Chinese and Malays were induced to settle ; and Mr. Herbert, one of 

 the council of Bencoolen, was appointed governor. It hud been sup- 

 posed to be a healthy place, as the island was elevated, and therefore 

 probably free from malaria; but in 1775 the native troops from India 

 became much reduced from sickness, and the post consequently much 

 weakened. This, with the absence of the cruisers from the harbour, 

 afforded a favourable opportunity for its capture ; and the wealth that 

 it was supposed to contain created an inducement that proved too 

 great for the hordes of marauding pirates to resist. Choosing their 

 time, they rushed upon the sentries, put them to death, took possession 

 of the guns, and turned them against the garrison, only a few of whom 

 made their escape on board of a small vessel. The booty in goods 

 and valuables was said to have been very large, amounting to nearly 

 four hundred thousand pounds sterling. 



Although Borneo offers many inducements to commercial enter- 

 prise, the policy of the Dutch Company has shut themselves out, as 

 well as others, by interdicting communication. In consequence, ex- 

 cept through indirect channels, there has been no information obtained 

 of the singular and unknown inhabitants of its interior. This, how- 

 ever, is not long destined to be the case. 



Mr. Brooke, an English gentleman of fortune, has, since our pas- 

 sage through these seas, from philanthropic motives, made an agree- 

 ment with the rajah of Sarawack, on the northern and western side 

 of Borneo, to cede to him the administration of that portion of the 

 island. This arrangement it is believed the British government will 

 confirm, in which event Sarawack will at once obtain an importance 

 among the foreign colonies, in the Eastern seas, second only to that of 

 Singapore. 



The principal inducement that has influenced Mr. Brooke in this 

 undertaking is the interest he feels in the benighted people of the 

 interior, who are known under the name of Dyack, and of whom some 

 extraordinary accounts have been given. 



A few of these, which I have procured from reputable sources, I 

 will now relate, in order that it may be seen among what kind of 

 people this gentleman has undertaken to introduce the arts of civili- 

 zation. 



The Dyacks are, by all accounts, a fine race, and much the most 

 numerous of any inhabiting Borneo. They are almost exclusively 

 confined to the interior, where they enjoy a fine climate, and all the 

 spontaneous productions of the tropics. They are believed to be the 

 aborigines of the island. The name of Dyack seems to be more 



